“Wait what ? I heard you wrong, I could have sworn you said they were sending my sister away ?”

“Echo shut-“ Before Dante could finish Echo said “Oh believe me, I wouldn’t be telling you you unless I was absolutely sure sure. Wahise was talking to doctor Cahvanah about what to do with Ivy once she woke up up again.”

“Echo SERIOUSLY SHU-“

“Then Cahvanah said that he thinks it's time to move her to a specialized institution that deals with a more select patient type. Said Loving Leeches was to generalized to give give her the proper treatment she needed.Of course I rushed out before they could notice I was there, but…”

“ECHO!” Dante slammed his hands down on the table. “You need to shut up now!” They both turned to look at me. “Charlie dude don't worry, not everything a doctor suggests is final. Even if this is true which I’m sure it isn’t, they still need your parents permission to transfer a minor and-“

“I want to see Ivy.” I started to get up but Dante grabbed my hand.

“Woah woah woah, you know you can’t do that, not so soon after what happened. You haven’t even met with your therapist yet. Demanding to see her now will shut down any chances you had of visiting again. Please sit down so we can think this through.” He glared at Echo and she seemed to shrink under the gaze.

I however was on the verge of another screaming fit. If what Echo said was true then I was in danger of never seeing my sister again. Unless I got better and visited her in the other institution but I’ve been here ten years already. I was probably going to spend the rest of my life here. I couldn’t let this happen, Dante and Echo were my friends but they would leave soon too. Everyone always left, the nurses came and went, moved onto better jobs, changed their shifts for the holidays. I’ve had four different therapists and twice as many doctors. Ivy was the only one who had been here with me since the beginning.

What made the entire situation worse was that Dante was right. I couldn’t demand to see her. Especially if she was on the fourth floor, they would shut me down instantly. Would give me another drug to swallow so I would be too dazed to care.”I need to see her.”

“Charlie this isn’t a good idea , you don't even know if she is in the same room.” I knew he was right but this was one of the situations life gives you where you have to do the wrong thing. You need to do the wrong thing, because the wrong thing gives you hope that it might be fine. That your mother wasn't consumed by flies, that this place wasn’t hiding things from you, and that your sister was perfectly fine up in her room and not on a van to Arkansas .

“Please, if I don't find out now I might never see my sister again.”

“They aren’t just gonna ship her overnight, imagine the paperwork! You will definitely see her again, nothing is final.” Dante put his hand my shoulder, an attempt to comfort I guess.

“ Nurse Wahise told me she is calling my mother already. She is coming to visit this weekend at the latest.”

“But it's its not christmas ?” Echo and Dante got quite at that moment. I think they both had come to the conclusion that she was on her way to talk to the doctors. That the decision about my sister was more final than they wanted me to believe. I didn’t have the courage to tell them that the reason she was calling my mother was because I hallucinated her death. Then again what if that was only partly the reason behind the call? What if they were already on planning for her to come and give consent to transfer Ivy? God I was so stupid, this was all my fault, I unlocked her gloves, I triggered her into biting me. My stupid brain had to freak out afterwards and put me on the nurses raidar… I had to make sure she was ok. (Give me dem big bro points.)

“You guys love me right ?” I asked using the best wounded puppy expression I could manage.

“What is the catch if I say yes yes ?”

“No catch I just want to know if you truly love me, if you are willing to prove it.”

“That sounds like something a cult leader would say.” Dante rolled his eyes. “We aren’t going to break Ivy out of crazy prison.”

“I’m not trying to break her out I just need to know she is ok. If she is still freaking out then it wont help me when I try to make a case for her to remain here.”

“If she is even leaving” He scoffed.

“I can't take that chance and I’m not asking a lot. Just be a distraction, enough for me to find her, tell her what is happening and explain my plan.”

“What is is your plan?”

“He doesn’t have a fucking plan, Charlie is the only person I know who almost dies and then goes back to make sure the attempted murderer is ok.”

“Ivy wasn't trying to kill me, she said it was an accident and I believe her.”

“HOW IS RIPPING OUT YOUR ARTERIES AN ACCIDENT?” His eyes furrowed and became dark under the deep set brows.

“I ALREADY TOLD YOU SHE MISSED THE ARTERIES!”

“SHHHHHH!” Echo held a finger to both our lips to quiet us, then whispered “Yelling won't help anything thing. We are in the the cafeteria and the last thing you you need right now is the attention yelling attracts.” She nodded her head back to all the people pretending they weren’t listening to the drama. Some nurses in the corner looked liked they were debating whether they should get up and check in on us. Luckily remaining seated was the more popular choice.

“ If you don't have have a plan, then I got one one for you.”

“Oh perfect not one but two nutcase plans to get us all sent away to wherever they are taking Ivy. Remind me why I always hang out with you?”

“I’m adorable- OWWWW”

“SHHHH!”

“HE PUNCHED ME !”

“It doesn't even hurt you!”

“God I’m surrounded by five year olds olds.” She began to gather our trays. “Here is what we are going to do. We are going to think about this very calm calmly back in Charlie’s dorm. We are going to come up with a plan that will ease his mind. So I won't have to deal with his depressed ass ass.”

“Why are you encouraging him ?”

“Come on on Dante, I know you are bored asl well. The worst they gonna do do is make us take more surveys on our feelings. After all our poor friend was in in distress.” She gestures towards me and grins. “Who can blame us for wanting to make him him feel better ?”